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2006:12:29:08:00. Friday. NO!: AMBULETTE (#201, DEC 9 2006).
This epic closer marked the end of the Fest for me. Hockey Night were coming up next, but it was already a busy end-of-semester weekend, and I didn't really need to stick around for Pavement-meets-Byrds until 9:30. This also meant not seeing the Joanna Newsom headlining show, which I was fine with, and which turned out to be a good thing, since it became such an uncoordinated mess. All in all, what I saw of this Fest was terrific -- nobody as exciting for me as Maritime and Rainer Maria, but good local acts, compelling established names and a great new discovery. Bring on the next one!
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:28:08:00. Thursday. NO!: AMBULETTE (#200, DEC 9 2006).
There are a couple songs on Ambulette's debut EP that I think could be mainstream hits now that they're on a major label. One of them is the lead track, "Fall," and the other on is this song. It's actually a bit too big of a sound for the acoustics of the Rathskeller, which means that it doesn't sound perfect in this clip, but I think that's actually something that bodes well for it as a potential single.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:27:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: AMBULETTE (#199, DEC 9 2006).
The only act of the second night that I was really excited to see was Ambulette, the new band featuring Maura Davis of Denali. They'd existed briefly as Bella Lea before a dispute with another band led to a name change; since forming they've released one five-song EP, but the songs they played at the Fest (like this one) imply that a full-length is on the way. This song feels like something from a lost era where Billy Corgan came before Kurt Cobain, and everything's a little darker, more shimmery and more electronic. Indie rock remains recognizable, but just a bit different.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:26:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: THE BRACELETS (#198, DEC 9 2006).
The Bracelets' EP only has five songs, and this was one of the, I think, three new ones that they played during their set. The new stuff was generally more of the same, but it did tend to contain a bit more sonic expansion and experimentation than the songs on the record.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:25:08:00. Monday. NO!: THE BRACELETS (#197, DEC 9 2006).
The second night of the Fest ended rather infamously with 1000+ people waiting in three unorganized lines, then waiting inside the Memorial Union's Great Hall for an hour and a half to see Joanna Newsom, but it began quietly with a short set local shoetweezers the Bracelets. Like Sleeping in the Aviary, they're a band I'd wanted to see for a while but never got around to, so it was nice to see them get a chance to play for the folks like me who jump at these kinds of free shows. Their sound is interesting in that it recalls both late-model Luna and early-model Galaxie 500, but very stripped down and simple. This song is from their self-titled EP, a five-song affair. It fits well there, and it fit well in the short set they played, but I'm not sure if their slight instrumentation is enough to sustain a full-length. Without a more driving sound, or maybe stronger vocal harmonies, they're just sugary enough for small doses, but too saccharine for big ones.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:22:08:00. Friday. NO!: SLEEPING IN THE AVIARY (#196, DEC 8 2006).
The crowd had started to wind down and disperse by this point, but the band was still going strong. These two songs -- I'm not sure what they're called, but maybe they'll be on the bands upcoming CD, whose release party is on February 2 -- were just as energetic as the ones that opened the set, though by that time it was getting hard to stay awake. Night one of the Fest was a success, for sure, in no small part thanks to these guys' closing.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:21:08:00. Thursday. NO!: SLEEPING IN THE AVIARY (#195, DEC 8 2006).
Like jokes? A broken snare provides the opportunity for an extended joke to be told during this clip. Also, singer Elliott Kozel acquiesces to the crowd's demand that he begin disrobing for some reason. Then comes a cover of a spazzed-out tune from former local favorites Johnny and the Church Camp Rebels. Enjoy!
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:20:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: SLEEPING IN THE AVIARY (#194, DEC 8 2006).
Sleeping in the Aviary was one of those local bands that I somehow always kept missing. Until the Pop Fest I didn't even know what they sounded like, but I was excited to finally see them after skipping or missing probably half a dozen of their shows over the past couple years. Turns out that they're... hard to describe. Most of their material comes in the form of short, bright-sounding blasts of silly garage pop. This clip features two such songs in the span of a little over two minutes.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:19:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: WAX ON RADIO (#193, DEC 8 2006).
I could keep going on about the attention-hungry hipsters who jammed their way up to the front of the crowd, but instead I'll just tell you to dig the transition a few minutes into this clip as it goes from soft to full-on, pounding, heavy rock. It was a little too much for my camera's little mic to handle properly, but the quality is decent enough to feel what's going on. A big sound from these guys, and a joy to be there for.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:18:08:00. Monday. NO!: WAX ON RADIO (#192, DEC 8 2006).
The excited drunks from the Maps and Atlases set stuck around for Wax on Radio, also from Chicago. This leads me to believe that they were a cadre of Chicago-based scenesters. As annoying as they were, I can't really blame them. I was pretty jazzed about Wax on Radio, who are one of a number of bands vying to fill the alt-prog hole left by Cave In, and they do a pretty good job for the most part.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:15:08:00. Friday. NO!: MAPS AND ATLASES (#191, DEC 8 2006).
During the Maps and Atlases set, a distinct crowd of attention-seekers showed up and unfortunately spent a lot of time trying to turn the floor into a mosh pit. They seemed pretty loaded are were desperate to get people looking at them, to the point of frequently reaching up to the band for high fives, but the really weird thing is they appeared to know the words for at least half the songs. Maps and Atlases have one seven-song record out, and they haven't been around that long. Are these guys from Chicago? Math-rock fiends? Extremely intuitive? Dunno.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:14:08:00. Thursday. NO!: MAPS AND ATLASES (#190, DEC 8 2006).
Back when I worked a 9-to-5 job and first found myself with nigh-unlimited time to peruse the Internet for new music, I briefly dabbled in the Chicago post-rock/math-rock scene that was home to the likes of Tortoise, Joan of Arc and the Sea and Cake. This dabbling lasted for about a day. I imagine it would've lasted longer if Maps and Atlases had been around then. They actually sound much more like an amped-up version of Minus the Bear than any of those Chicago bands but they fit the scene well and seem to already be generating a bit of a following, based on how the crowd at this show responded to them.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:13:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: MASON PROPER (#189, DEC 8 2006).
I got a Myspace comment from one of the Mason Proper guys saying that he'd gone to Michigan Tech for a semester, which is interesting, although my immediate reaction was along the lines of, "Damn you, semester switch!" Anyway. One of the nice things about discovering an excellent, new, relatively unknown band at a live show is that they're usually playing first and the crowd hasn't gotten too annoying yet. Mason Proper were playing the first set of the Fest, starting at about 7:00 on Friday night, and though people kept trickling in throughout the set, the attention-starved hipster undergrads hadn't gotten there yet. It actually turned out to be one of the most overall enjoyable sets I've seen at Club 770, between the good band, the good lighting and the fact that none of the Union South sound equipment just decided to stop working suddenly. And oh yeah, these guys are going to be Important in 2007, I swear.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:12:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: MASON PROPER (#188, DEC 8 2006).
Mason Proper are from the Ann Arbor area, which has at least as distinct a musical scene from Detroit's as Madison's is from Milwaukee's, but I think they fit well with the post-White Stripes rock sound that's coming out of Detroit. They're not as spazzy as Thunderbirds Are Now!, but they definitely are in that vein. The recommendations at Last.fm connect them to the Talking Heads and I think that's reasonably accurate. Also, check out that guy plugging and unplugging stuff in his Suitcase of Vintage Keyboard Guts. That's pretty cool!
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:12:11:08:00. Monday. NO!: MASON PROPER (#187, DEC 8 2006).
And, we're back. Today I've got the first of 15(!) clips from last weekend's Madison Pop Fest. Mason Proper were the first band of Friday's Union South festivities, but they may have been my favorite of the whole affair. I'd never heard of them before this show was announced, but I think we all will be hearing a lot more from them soon. They apparently played Madison last year, but, according to the singer, "no one came," but I think this performance and their terrific new album will change that the next time they come back.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:17:08:00. Friday. NO!: THE ELECTED (#186, OCT 26 2006).
This was our second Elected show of the year -- we saw them open for Metric back in April -- and I remain unimpressed. It's not that they're bad. I actually kind of enjoy both this song and the one I recorded before, "I'll Be Your Man." But they're so inconsequential -- when I listen to Sun, Sun, Sun I have a really hard time picking out which song is which, and when one stops and another begins. It seems like they're constructing an atmosphere more than making music, which is fine as far as it goes, but wasn't enough to keep us at this show for more than a couple songs into their set.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:16:08:00. Thursday. NO!: MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO'S (#185, OCT 26 2006).
At the beginning of this clip, Margot singer Richard Edwards notes how cool it is that Union South has a bar downstairs, and challenges any and all comers to venture down to take him on in foosball after the set. I don't know if anybody did, but I do there were noticeably fewer people around for the Elected's set afterwards. We thought about going down to take the challenge ourselves, but quickly realized that we were way too tired for that shit.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:15:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO'S (#184, OCT 26 2006).
There was a pretty big crowd on hand to see Margot at Club 770, despite the fact that a) it was their third trip to Madison in four months, b) they were not actually the headliner, and c) Club 770 stinks. I think more people might have watched Margot than watched the Elected later on, and it was nice to get to see them play a full set after their Terrace show got cut short last summer. It was also nice to be treated to this non-album track, the first of I think two they played during their set.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:14:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: WHISPERTOWN 2000 (#183, OCT 26 2006).
I wonder if Whispertown 2000 are best buds with Rilo Kiley or something. We saw them in March opening for Jenny Lewis at the Pabst Theatre, and again opening for the Elected (Blake Sennett's side project) at Club 770. They're really a much less interesting band than they should be -- the idea of a Rilo Kiley-influenced band of slight popsters featuring two female singers and a lot of acoustics is very appealing to me, but they don't really execute it very well. Since we've seen them twice this year I figured I should record one song from them at least, but the one I picked turned out to be a short a cappella number that featured the non-vocalists members of the band just sitting around. So I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that they're kind of disappointing as a band.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:10:08:00. Friday. NO!: JAIL (#182, SEP 23 2006).
A few songs into the set, the lights in the bar started to flicker a bit. Since it was so stormy outside, and there was a giant fan running inside, we figured it was just a momentary brownout. A couple songs later it happened again. Then, during this song, the lights started going all the out and back in with the beat of the song and we realized somebody (behind the bar, perhaps?) was putting together and impromptu stage show for us. So that was kind of nice. Also, at this point in the show a few people in the crowd finally gave into temptation and tried to merge with the band, since there isn't actually in a stage at the River Horse. All in all kind of a hectic, adrenalized show that got pulled off well nonetheless.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:08:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: JAIL (#181, SEP 23 2006).
Watching this set was a little like being in the eye of a storm. There were really far too many people inside the bar -- the show was meant to be out in the street, after all -- which produced sort of an organic, constant, wave-type motion in the crowd throughout the set. On top of that, the door was open, letting in a little rain and a lot of wind. The band kept losing their set lists but pressed on confidently nonetheless. Of course, this was before the lights started going crazy...
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:06:08:00. Monday. NO!: JAIL (#180, SEP 23 2006).
The day after the Mates of State show, we suddenly found out Jail was playing at Center Street Days (or Center State Daze or possibly Rockerbox) in Milwaukee that evening. The weather was crap, but we drove over anyway and took a big umbrella just in case. When we got there it was pouring, and there didn't seem to be any kind of street festival going on. We found Emily's parents, went to get food and were going to just turn around and head home when her brother called and told us they were playing at River Horse instead of out in the rain. We got over there just in time to hear them open with this new song, playing to basically an entire street fair packed into a relatively small bar. And if anybody reading this found a fleece hoodie in a booth at El Chico Zuma on September 23, well, enjoy.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:03:08:00. Friday. NO!: SYSTEM AND STATION (#179, SEP 20 2006).
As you'll hear before the song starts in this clip, this just wasn't System and Station's night. Of the 50-60 people who were there for the Selfish Gene's set, seven were left by the time of this song. On top of being somewhat mismatched with the bill, and it being a Wednesday night, the show started so late that it didn't finally end until 1:45 in the morning, by which point only loud-mouthed drunks and myself remained. It's too bad, because -- aside from the too-loud guitars -- they put on a really good in support of a solid new album. I'd hope they come back again soon, but that seems somehow unlikely after this experience.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:02:08:00. Thursday. NO!: SYSTEM AND STATION (#178, SEP 20 2006).
I first heard of System and Station when I randomly found a copy of their last album, In the Twilight, in the public library's local music section. The band used to be based in Madison but moved to Portland a couple years ago. That album didn't really impress me, but I like their new one, Here Is Now, quite a bit. This song is one of several good ones on that record, and hopefully they'll be back soon so I can record some of the others.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:11:01:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: SYSTEM AND STATION (#177, SEP 20 2006).
By the time System and Station finally took the stage it was well past midnight and much of the Selfish Gene's audience had taken off. A few more people left after the band started playing, because they seemed to be turned up to 11 for some reason. The audio in this clip unfortunately reflects this -- it's a good track that suffered some severe distortion from the unholy blast of decibels.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:31:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: THE SELFISH GENE (#176, SEP 20 2006)
Next up were local favorites the Selfish Gene, who seemed to have brought a lot of their own audience. By the time their set started there were probably 50-60 people in the room, which is quite a few for a Wednesday night without a big name act on the bill. I hadn't been familiar with them before the show but I mostly liked what I heard. They've got a nice jangly sound and knew how to work the crowd. I wound up buying their record, which generally features longer versions of the songs than they tended to play in their set, and so far they're a good addition to my local band playlist.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:30:08:00. Monday. NO!: THIS BRIGHT APOCALYPSE (#175, SEP 20 2006)
My backlog of videos is almost all the way worked through! The first clip from System and Station's late-September show comes from This Bright Apocalypse, a recently reformed local band. They are, oddly, something a jam power trio. I was really turned off by them at first, but they grew on me at least enough that I wanted to record them. The singer turned out to have a really entertaining stage presence, and actually used his bongo drum to good effect, so I recommend checking them out if you can. They have one album out from their original incarnation, but I got the feeling that they're working with mostly new material these days.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:27:08:00. Friday. NO!: MINUS THE BEAR (#174, OCT 6 2006)
The current Minus the Bear tour is kind of an odd one. I missed the first opening act, an instrumental metal act called Russian Circles. Next is a math-y emo band called the Velvet Teen, whose material I've enjoyed in the past, but who didn't really impress me live. They had a lot of their stuff pre-recorded, including keyboard lines that could've easily been played by, say, a live keyboard player; kind of disappointing, to be honest. The last opening act was a Twin Cities-based rapper called P.O.S., who seemed to have a small cell of his own dedicated fans front and center in the pit. He really put himself into his set, but I don't know how many of the rockists he won over. The idea of combining indie rock and underground hip-hop on stage is laudable, but I think it's vital that the opening act have great material. P.O.S. had a couple of interesting songs, but most of his stuff didn't stand out at all from the likes of Ludacris or DMX. Still, the show came off well and if the tour's managed to grow the audience for any of these acts I guess it was a success.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:25:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: MINUS THE BEAR (#173, OCT 6 2006)
Minus the Bear played three new songs at this show, but "Ice Monster" was the only one I recorded and the only one I caught the name of. It was also probably my favorite of the three, though they were all a little down-tempo compared to what I've come to expect from them. What it did really well was to lead into "The Fix," which is my favorite song from Menos el Oso and maybe from their whole catalog. It was clearly a crowd favorite as well, as you can tell from the reaction to its distinctive staccato opening.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:23:08:00. Monday. NO!: MINUS THE BEAR (#172, OCT 6 2006)
I wouldn't have expected Minus the Bear to pack a place as big as the Loft, but they did it. I'd guess there were 150-200 people inside what amounts to large garage with a pit dug in the middle. It's actually one of the strangest venues I've ever been in, and this was my first time. There's a pit about six feet deep, and about ten feet on each side, right in front of the stage, which is at the same level as the rest of the floor. Behind the pit is the mixer, and along the sides are aisles to the stage, which are full of people. This isn't too weird on its own, but in addition to the layout there are lights everywhere. The entire place was lit with about half-intensity house lights for the entire show -- except the stage, which apparently had no lighting of its own. There were stage lights available -- I noticed a reasonably sophisticated lighting setup near the stage and some more equipment near the back of the pit -- they just weren't turned on at all. So, you'll notice that these clips seem a little washed out as a result of all the brightening I had to do.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:20:08:00. Friday. NO!: RAINER MARIA (#171, SEP 7 2006)
When we saw Rainer Maria at MadisonFest in March, I wanted to record the whole show. Despite the technical problems inherent in a show at Club 770, the new material sparkled and I just couldn't get enough. I had to settle for just ("just"?!?) five clips though, and when they came back I was on a mission to get two songs in particular. "Clear and True" they didn't play, unfortunately, but this was the other one. It was one of the last songs of what felt like a short set -- I think they had to end by midnight or so because it was all ages -- but it was worth waiting for. This is one of those songs (along with "Life of Leisure" and "I'll Make You Mine") that boost my opinion of the whole of Catastrophe Keeps Us Together every time I hear it. It just may wind up being my favorite record of 2006.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:18:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: RAINER MARIA (#170, SEP 7 2006)
Rainer Maria seem to dip into their healthy back-catalog fairly often in their live shows, but even still I was surprised to hear this one. "Atlantic" dates from the time when they were just second-wave emo college kids, living just a few blocks from my house -- you can no longer hear the roughness that the original recording has, but the pondering, poetry class signature of mid-90's emo is unmistakable. It's actually kind of surprising how well it fit into their set, because it's a style that's been abandoned by everyone but Mike and Tim Kinsella. I don't think I'd want Rainer Maria to make another Atlantic or Past Worn Searching, but it's nice to hear the old stuff smoothly mixed into the new once in a while.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:16:08:00. Monday. NO!: THE BOX SOCIAL (#169, SEP 7 2006)
When the Box Social opened for Rainer Maria last month, this was one of the few non-new songs they played; it's also my favorite track from their second EP, Golly Gee Whiz. They had a core of about a dozen of their own fans present for their set, whom I expect enjoyed the material quite a bit, but they really should've gotten a lot more out of being on a bill with Rainer Maria. Unfortunately, Madison scheduling rules were in effect -- nobody shows up until an hour and a half after the posted start time, right in the middle of the second band's set. There may have been some of the Rainer Maria draw already there by then, but I doubt it was more than a few people. These guys are one of a number of Madison bands that are in a position to take advantage of the exposure afforded by opening for national acts, and it would be nice if our local venues and promoters found a way to make that work. Shows that start at "9:00" but where the headliners don't go on until after midnight don't quite cut it.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:13:08:00. Friday. NO!: AWESOME CAR FUNMAKER (#168, AUG 9 2006)
As Awesome Car Funmaker neared the end of their set, there were still only a few people inside the High Noon. ACF kept pushing forward though, their tongue-in-cheek stage show and spazzy post-hardcore winning over those few of us who were there. Granted, it was dark and nobody really knew why they were there, but I'm certainly eager to see them again. I did, however, leave after their set, as Evans Blue didn't strike me as worth staying out until 12:30 or later when I was already well past tired. Hopefully the Burden Brothers will make up their canceled appearance on their upcoming tour. (By the way, you can download Awesome Car Funmaker's first album in its entirety at their Myspace page. Enjoy!)
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:11:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: AWESOME CAR FUNMAKER (#167, AUG 9 2006).
The second band up was one I'd wanted to see for quite a while. Awesome Car Funmaker's reputation had preceded them, as I'd read a lot about their energetic live show. It's not for nothing that they've been voted Madison's favorite local rock band. They'd been pretty quiet leading up to this show, finishing their new album, but even with a sparse crowd they spared no theatrics. Afterwards, both they and Apparently Nothing sold me new CDs for $5 and encouraged me to make copies, put them on the Internet, etc., which struck me as really cool. Ironically, I have yet to get around to putting either of the records up on the Internet.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:09:08:00. Monday. NO!: APPARENTLY NOTHING (#166, AUG 9 2006).
Way back in early August, the Burden Brothers were supposed to play at the High Noon, and I was supposed to go. Then they cancelled, but the show went on with tour opener Evans Blue bumped up to the headlining slot and locals Apparently Nothing added to the front of the bill. I'd already paid my $10 for an advance ticket, so I decided to go and check it out, if for nothing else than for some local band exposure. Once I got there it became clear that nobody really cared about Evans Blue, as about ten people were holding down the fort. I decided to experiment a little and shoot my videos from the front of the balcony, about mid-way back as compared to the main floor. This, combined with the near-total lack of stage lighting, made from some awesomely dark footage. Really, it's hard to imagine how anyone who was there live could see the show looking at how much lightening I had to do. The sound quality came out good, though, letting the band's youthful, Weezer-y rock shine through. They play a lot in and around Madison, as well as Minneapolis, so if you'd like to see what they look like in the light, check out one of their upcoming shows.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:05:08:00. Thursday. NO!: HARVEY DANGER AND FRIENDS (#165, SEP 29 2006).
Apologetically, they ended their set about three-quarters of the way through, jumping forward to "Private Helicopter" as a closer. The song made it clear that they couldn't go on -- it features a climax that Nelson just couldn't go without tearing his throat out -- despite how much they and the audience wanted to continue. After the song ended, the last chord continued to ring out and they huddled up for a quick band meeting. When they emerged, they had decided the show would go on as Harvey Danger karaoke. I don't know if they've ever done this before, but they and we dove into it without hesitation. Hands shot up and a girl named Chelsea was picked to sing a ballad from Little By Little..., which got a huge response from the crowd, which by now appeared to fill the Rathskeller. While she sang I found myself trying to remember how a couple of older songs started, and to figure out if I could call up all the words. When she finished, hands went back up and Nelson asked me and another guy what we wanted to sing. I said "Terminal Annex," he said something I couldn't hear, and "Terminal Annex" was the winner. The rush of it was incredible, even on a stage just six inches off the floor. It's one of my favorite songs to sing, and doing so with that loud, crazed audience in front of me was amazing, even though I did forget a couple of lines. A couple songs later, these two guys -- I think named Tom and Max, but I'm not sure -- got up to sing "Old Hat," the other one I'd thought about doing. They get a little help from Nelson and from the audience, and then from -- no kidding -- the girl from the We Are Scientists show that cajoled everybody into climbing up on the stage. They ended with the song they love to hate -- their one hit, "Flagpole Sitta" -- which Nelson began, before yielding the mic to about a dozen people. The vibe of the whole show was astounding and encapsulated in that community songcraft at the end. I hope they come back soon with Nelson at full strength, but even if they do I can't imagine how they could put on a better show.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:04:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: HARVEY DANGER (#164, SEP 29 2006).
Early on in the set, singer Sean Nelson apologized for his voice, which he said he'd wracked the previous night in Champaign. You can hear it starting to go in this clip, which was probably the eighth or ninth song of the set. All things considered, I was really impressed by how he pushed through the problems he was having, even though it was clear that there were some notes he just couldn't hit. He got help from the audience in some places (most notably on "Picture, Picture," which included a scheduled audience participation portion, and "Carlotta Valdez," on which it was just spontaneous) but he really seemed disappointed in himself for not being able to put on a full-strength show. He even offered (jokingly?) to put on the guest-list anybody who wanted to go out to Seattle for one of their hometown shows. While probably no one will take him up on that, tomorrow's clip shows just how amazingly he made up for his injured voice at the end of this show.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:03:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: HARVEY DANGER (#163, SEP 29 2006).
Over the course of the last and the next week or so, Madison has hosted or will host Everclear, Veruca Salt, Gin Blossoms and Harvey Danger; the first three are at the relatively pricey Club Majestic, while the last played a free show in the Memorial Union's dining hall. The show was one of my most anticipated of the year. Harvey Danger's debut album -- a set of demos, really, that accidentally turned into something real thanks to their one-hit-wonderdom -- is one of my all-time favorites, with six songs I still love to listen to frequently while most other 1997 releases have faded into my dusty CD shelves. After their second album got corporated into obscurity, the band disappeared for several years and return with a self-released effort last year -- you can download it freely and legally from their site. This clip features a slight, loopy cover of David Bowie's "Oh! You Pretty Things," as well as the lead single from their new record, a return-to-form snarkfest called "Cream and Bastards Rise." The crowd reaction says a lot to me, considering many of the people in the audience were 12 when this band was close to becoming a big deal. Their music is just that ingratiating.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:02:08:00. Monday. NO!: SO MANY DYNAMOS (#162, SEP 29 2006).
The thing I really like about Rathskeller/Terrace/Club 770 shows is that they're so damn punctual. Every other venue in Madison is totally unpredictable when it comes to starting on time -- the campus shows start when they're scheduled and they're done by midnight. What this means is that if I want to skip an opening band I'm not familiar with, I can. In the case of So Many Dynamos, opening for Harvey Danger, I walked in about halfway through their set and now I wish I'd gotten there on time. I'd never heard of them before this show, but their energetic, spazzy sound -- reminiscent of Thunderbirds Are Now! -- quickly won me over, and dragged me to their merch table. As luck would have it, the song I recorded is not on any of their three CD's, which means it's either on their split 7" with Bring Back the Guns or it's new. I ordered the 7" a couple days ago, so I'll know for sure soon enough.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:29:08:00. Friday. NO!: MATES OF STATE (#161, SEP 22 2006).
Toward the end of the set, the songs began to take on a more rocking tone and some dudes climbed up onto either a corner of the stage or something to perform air guitar. The reason this is worth pointing out is that Mates of State do not employ any guitars -- it's just keyboard and drums. And yet, there he was, having a great time with this tune, the terrific opener from their third album. Also worth pointing out -- I recorded this song partly because I was getting low on disc space and it's kind of a short one, but I also could've recorded the short breakdown they did in the middle of "Like U Crazy," covering part of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." It would've made an interesting contrast to the Of Montreal cover at the very least.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:28:08:00. Thursday. NO!: MATES OF STATE (#160, SEP 22 2006).
The morning before the Mates of State show we found one of our parakeets dead. We're not sure exactly what happened and it doesn't really matter: She's gone whether or not we know just why. Later in the day Emily found herself tearing up over the Bring It Back two-fer of "Nature and the Wreck," a lullabye to the Mates' baby daughter, and "So Many Ways," an anthem to love, loss and return. I wanted so badly to record them at the show, but the former they didn't play and the latter isn't recognizable enough to me that I could quickly pick it out to record. When they played it, I wouldn't say it felt somber, but it did feel like a waning, waves of undifferentiated pressure rolling off and away. Part of it was Lassie, our bird, and part of it was just the toxic build-up of life since the last application of music this lovely and sweet.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:27:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: MATES OF STATE (#159, SEP 22 2006).
The biggest surprise, to me, about Mates of State selling out the Stage Door was that I wasn't all that surprised by it. How is it that they've gotten so big without it ever seeming weird? Almost exactly a year ago they sold out the Annex, now this, and the next time they come to Madison it'll almost certainly have to be in... the Barrymore. That, of course, means that we probably won't be seeing them again very soon. If that turns out to be the case, they played a pleasantly wide range of material to leave us with. The early part of the set focused on their newest (and in my opinion, weakest) record, Bring It Back. I like this tune, which was the lead single, quite a bit, but some of the stuff that comes later on is a bit dodgy. In the live context, interspersed with just about everything short of their debut 7", it was hard to notice the weak stuff, though.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:26:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: STARLIGHT MINTS (#158, SEP 22 2006).
Starlight Mints are the touring opener for the current Mates of State tour, but you wouldn't know it from watching them. From the lowered stage lights, to the K-Mart fancy set design, to the extended orchestral intro, everything about their set made it feel like they forgot they weren't headlining. Maybe they get a little slack for being Mates' labelmates, or for being the indie version of the Flaming Lips, with whom they share a hometown, but it did seem a little much at first. On the other hand, Emily slept through most of their set, since she's used to going to bed early on Friday nights in order to get up for the farmers market, so maybe they could've gone a lot bigger. This song is my favorite one from their new album, rendered here in a much more organic way than it is on record. Their set as a whole wasn't life-changing, but was fun to see, and that's a lot more than can be said for many of the tag-along bands that have come through here lately.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:25:08:00. Monday. NO!: MOLITOR (#157, SEP 22 2006).
The Orpheum Stage Door was the only "big" venue in Madison that I hadn't visited before this show. The very strange thing about it was that the doors opened about five minutes before the scheduled start time of 8:00, with the sell-out crowd lined up along Johnson St. waiting to get in. A few minutes after 8:00 -- with most of us still on the sidewalk -- the first opening band, Molitor, began their set. Unfortunately for me, they opened with my favorite two songs from their new EP, Sometimes I Get Like This, and we only got to see about half of the second song. They also included some unrecorded songs on the set, such as the one heard here, and I'm anxious now to hear their full-length. They have a good, strong, old-school emo sound, and I think they're a real credit to the Milwaukee scene right now.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:22:08:00. Friday. NO!: THE GOSSIP (#156, SEP 8 2006).
The real surprise moment of the show -- which wouldn't have been a surprise if I'd listened to their new remix EP beforehand -- was Erase Errata singer Jenny Hoyston joining the band to duet on a cover of Aaliyah's "Are U That Somebody." It worked surprisingly well and gave both singers a chance to show off; after the show I couldn't help but imagine Beth Ditto quitting the Gossip to become Missy Elliot's new protege. This all has nothing in particular to do with this clip, except for the fact that Beth introduces it by noting that one of her bandmates has "Sexyback" as a ringtone.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:21:08:00. Thursday. NO!: THE GOSSIP (#155, SEP 8 2006).
I'm a pretty obsessive-compulsive person when it comes to things like properly tagging all my MP3s, using correct full titles, etc., so I was quite surprised to notice at the merch table that only one of the Gossip's albums actually says "The Gossip" on it. Arkansas Heat, Movement and Standing in the Way of Control all just say "Gossip." I really couldn't believe I'd never noticed that before. Now, I'm still pretty sure that they're actually called "The Gossip," but it's kind of embarassing how much this discovery rattled me. Please, bands, use the proper full constructions of your names on all album covers; it's really important.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:20:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: THE GOSSIP (#154, SEP 8 2006).
I was very much unsure about going to this show, to the extent that I made sure to buy a ticket in advance to force myself to follow through on it, but I'm so glad I went. My familiarity with the group before the show consisted of only this year's Standing in the Way of Control, which is great, and 2003's live album, Undead in NYC, which is not. Neither one prepared me for the awesome stage presence of singer Beth Ditto, who has maybe the best white-girl blues-rock voice since Janis Joplin. She also has a smooth physicality while singing that belies her short chubbiness. I assumed there would be some dance in their set -- they are part of the early 2000's wave of "dance-punk" acts, after all -- but I didn't think it would be such a captivating study of the singer's ability to direct a crowd. It really left me with a greater appreciation of the rhythm underlying most of their songs.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:19:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: ERASE ERRATA (#153, SEP 8 2006).
Erase Errata have been getting some decent buzz lately, but I've gone up and down several times on their new album, so I was eager to see how they went live. I was also really tired, so I tried an experiment that didn't really pan out: shooting from the raised (and sparsely populated) rear area of the Annex. As it turned out, the stage was probably not lit brightly enough for this to be a good idea, but you can still pretty much see everything. As for their set, I don't know, it was a little lacking in energy. The material was mostly good but they seemed to be kind of overwhelmed by both the crowd's anticipation for them and the nascent excitement for the Gossip's set. Or maybe I'm just unconsciously comparing them to that set and finding them coming up short. Judge for yourself.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:18:08:00. Monday. NO!: MIKA MIKO (#152, SEP 8 2006).
Handling the first opening slot at the Gossip's recent Madison show was a band of LA noise punks called Mika Miko. How noise were they? One of their singers sang through a telephone. How punk were they? Their set lasted 18 minutes and they played about 300 songs, and they have no talent. I appreciated their energy, but like most bands that reject the ethos of talent, they could use a bit of it. These two short songs are not on their debut full-length album, and presumably are drawn from their ultra-punk underground-only cassette releases.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:15:08:00. Friday. NO!: 1090 CLUB (#151, SEP 2 2006).
What really struck me as interesting about these guys was not just their odd instrumentation (piano + guitar + violin + drums + triple vox) but that they used it in such an against-type way. Strings in the indie rock world usually mean ballads, or at least soft pop sound; the same goes for prominent vocal harmonies. 1090 Club, on the other hand, manages to organically incorporate those things into a disjointed and edgy rock sound that's most commonly heard accompanied by three guitars, a fleet of distortion pedals and screaming. I'm quite eager to hear how it translates to the CD. By the way, if you missed them, they're back in town at the King Club on October 24.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:14:08:00. Thursday. NO!: 1090 CLUB (#150, SEP 2 2006).
In their Party in the Park set, 1090 Club only played, I think, six songs, saving their full set for the evening show at the High Noon. The songs are all from their upcoming debut LP ("upcoming" meaning next Tuesday in this case) and while I liked the set opener the best ("Business End," which I didn't record) the whole thing was really solid. I encourage people to buy the record if they like what they hear, or at least go see them live if you're in the vicinity of Montana.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:13:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: BAGHDAD SCUBA REVIEW (#149, SEP 2 2006).
Sometime this past summer, on the way out of a show at the High Noon, we saw a stack of free stickers that said "Baghdad Scuba Review" on them, with a clipart picture of a scuba diver. Naturally, we each took one. It wasn't until Party in the Park that I actually noticed by this name on any schedules, however; when I saw that they were scheduled to play early in the afternoon I made a point of seeing them. First realization: They are a jam band. I gathered this not, at first, from the fact that they have a bongo player, but from the fact that several people in the small crowd were hula-hooping, including one guy with three hoops going at once. So this, it must be acknowledged, is one quick strike against them. But for the potential traps they could fall into, they really don't -- and they manage to skate by with some prog tendencies, too! Their songs go on forever, but they don't really meander; it's pretty much all in the service of a clear song structure. So while I'm not terribly likely to run out and see these guys again, I'm glad I saw them at the park and I enjoyed what I heard.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:12:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: THE BOX SOCIAL (#148, AUG 20 2006).
I wouldn't normally post a song I'd already recorded at a past show -- this one was also recorded at a show at the Journey last May -- but in this case something happened that made the clip post-worthy. Before I quite realized that this was a duplicate, one of the more raucous (and wasted) members of the audience was making his way to the stage, pants around his ankles, sporting a bulge in blue briefs. The band knew him, and didn't seem terribly surprised by what was going on, but still, that's a lot to just keep playing through. Especially once he started dancing on them.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:09:11:08:00. Monday. NO!: JUNIOR REVOLUTION (#147, AUG 20 2006).
After their recent tour of the west, Madison's the Box Social came home to a show at the High Noon. Opening were a new local act called Coup de Foudre and this band, Junior Revolution, from Cincinnati. I was pleasantly surprised to be impressed by them. Their sound reminded me a lot of late-model Get Up Kids. The one problem is that they're just in love with false stops. Almost every song had a point at wh |
